Amazing Stories

The trophy a dog found, the player who lost a final and won the next one with a different country, the World Cup that changed hosts without a ball being kicked, and 17 more.

With 22 goals across three World Cups, Mbappé broke Klose's record by six goals — and beat Lionel Messi to it by just one.

In 24 of the 81 countries with at least one historic goal, the all-time top scorer scored in 2026 — from Messi to Julián Quiñones in Mexico.

With 52 goals, minute 75 beats every other minute of play — a look back at its most memorable goals, from Pelé in 1958 to Harry Kane in 2026.

1-0 is the most repeated result in World Cup history — the same score Spain won both of its titles by.

Curaçao became the smallest nation ever to score a World Cup goal. Here's how debutants have fared throughout history.

Before becoming head coach, Rafa Márquez was the third player in history to reach 5 World Cups, and the only Mexican defender to score in 3 different editions.

At Qatar 2022 he didn't score a single goal. In 2026 he left with 6, including a first-half hat-trick. The story of Ousmane Dembélé's resurgence.

Conmebol is proposing a 64-team 2030 World Cup for the centenary. We break down who's on a streak, who could return, and who could debut for the first time.

Argentina-England was played for the sixth time in 2026, but it isn't the most-repeated World Cup matchup. We break down the 6 matches and who actually holds the record.

Who's been to the most World Cups, who's carrying the longest active streak, and who's been away the longest — the complete map of all 83 teams that have ever played a World Cup.

Same opening match, same Final scoreline, the same Round of 16 opponent — we break down the 16 verified coincidences between Spain's two World Cup titles.

More matches, more goals, and more attendance than ever, Mbappé as the all-time top scorer, Olise breaking Pelé's assist record, and the hosts' own records for Mexico and Canada.

Spain won the 2026 World Cup while conceding just one goal in 8 matches, with a historic streak from Unai Simón (650 minutes without conceding) and Yamal and Oyarzabal entering the tournament's all-time lists.

Youri Tielemans' goal in the 120+5th minute is the latest goal ever scored in World Cup history. A good excuse to look at exactly which minute all 3,027 World Cup goals have been scored in.

With 10 combined goals, France 4-6 England was the highest-scoring Third Place Match in World Cup history — and Mbappé also passed Messi in career goals along the way.

Cristiano Ronaldo bowed out of the World Cup as the only player in history to score in six different editions, also becoming Portugal's all-time top scorer.

Mexico scored more goals at the 2026 World Cup than in any other edition in its history — with a duo, Quiñones-Jiménez, combining for 7 goals like never before.

76 years ago, Uruguay beat Brazil 2-1 at the Maracanã to win the 1950 World Cup — but that match was never officially a final.

Lionel Messi is the only World Cup player to appear in the top 10 of both youngest and oldest scorers — 20 years between the two.

Mohamed Hany is the only player in history to score two own goals in the same World Cup — and we corrected a widely-repeated mistake about a supposed 1966 precedent.

Perišić has scored in four different World Cups — a club of just 6 players in history, alongside Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Pelé and Klose.

René and Willy van de Kerkhof, identical Dutch twins, each scored a goal at Argentina 1978 — a feat no other twins have matched since.

Brent Sancho is, to this day, the only player from that nation with a goal to his name in World Cup history. The catch: it was an own goal.